Will another mob await Olympian?
Harry Jerome meet expects ‘rock star’ welcome for headliner De Grasse
The wild, unruly mob descended on Andre De Grasse, not with torches and pitchforks, but with pens and praise.
The Olympic sprinter, whose relatively pedestrian winning time of 10.17 in the men’s 100 metres was enough to spark the fan pandemonium at last year’s Harry Jerome track meet, was engulfed by autograph and selfie-seeking fans young and old at Percy Perry Stadium.
“It was close to a riot mob last year. We were lucky nothing happened,” said meet president Doug Clement. “(But) he loved it. His handlers — his agent and coaches, and so on — were very concerned. But he was very relaxed and enjoyed it.
“I don’t think he had full understanding of the riot-like nature around him. … He is a rock star.”
De Grasse will return this year for his third consecutive visit to the Jerome, which will move back to Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium on June 26-27. Around 3,000 fans took in last year’s one-day event in Coquitlam, but organizers are expecting up to 5,000 each night this season.
“He values (the Jerome) strongly. He really has a genuine desire to try to connect with the public and build the interest in track and field,” said Clement.
“It’s not like some pro sports, where you see a reluctance in them to interact with their fans. That’s not the case with Andre. He firmly believes in the participation of sport being a positive influence of sport on young people.
“It strikes me, that when you start looking at any sport that falls within the Olympic area, outside of the professional sports that are so popular in North America, he seems to be the one athlete who has been able to capture the imagination of Canadians.”
His ascension was hitched to the star of Usain Bolt, when the two sprinters had a magical and affable duel at the 2016 Rio Olympics that entertained the world. He won silver in the 200 metres and bronze in the 4X100-metre relay and 100 m, becoming the first Canadian sprinter to win three medals at a single Games.
After a strong run of results in the Diamond League heading into the world championships — he was unbeaten in the 100m and 200m in four events before the worlds — he was poised to face his fremesis one final time before suffering a Grade 2 hamstring strain in training just a few days before, forcing him to pull out.
The 23-year-old Markham native hadn’t run a competitive race since July 16 in Morocco, even skipping the Commonwealth Games last month, before diving headfirst into competition at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, last week.
He clocked a 10.15 and a fourthplace finish, and was happy with the result after an extended recovery period that ended when he resumed training in December.
“That’s the fastest opener I’ve ever had in the opening race in the season. For me, it’s all about coming out healthy. Now there are no limits for my next race,” he told The Canadian Press.
“(The year-long break) gave me a little bit more time to recover, not push myself as hard with the hamstring injury I had in August, so I had some time to ease back into training and not push myself too hard too early.
“But as of right now I’ve been fortunate that things have gone well these past couple of months, continue to keep doing the right thing, recovering, nutrition, just making sure I take care of my body in the right way so it doesn’t happen again.”
Next up is the first Diamond League meet of the season, where De Grasse will be running in Friday’s 200m against world champion Ramil Guliyev of Turkey, 2017 Diamond League Champion Noah Lyles of the USA, and world bronze medallist Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago.
“It’s a good start, and it will be very exciting to see what happens Friday,” said Clement. “It’ll be a test by fire. He’s not taking an easy entry into this; he’s getting right back on the horse.”
The Harry Jerome is just one of three domestic stops for De Grasse, who trains in the U.S. and travels to the Diamond League events around the world. He’ll be at the Canadian track championships in July, as well as the NACAC championships in Toronto in August. First up are three Diamond League events in May and two in June before the Jerome.
His main goal this season is winning the overall Diamond League title and maybe — just maybe — bettering the 100m Canadian record of 9.84 held jointly by Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin.
He’s broken the 10-second mark nine times, most recently a 9.69 last June in Stockholm, a mark that will remain inadmissible because of a 4.8mps tailwind. His silver-medal time of 9.91 at the Rio Games remains his personal best.
“Yeah definitely, 9.84, it’s been on my radar for awhile,” De Grasse said. “But I’m just going to let that come to me, take one race at a time, and we’ll see what I can do in the next couple of meets, and I’ll be able to know where I’m at, and if I can do it.”
With nearly $1M spent on a new, high-tech Rekortan M99 track surface at Swangard, a boisterous crowd and expected favourable conditions, that mark could fall at the Jerome. And this time, organizers will be ready for the fandemonium.
“An ability of an individual like Andre De Grasse doesn’t come up every now and then — it’s every two or three decades,” said Clement, who has been holding meetings on improved security measures for this year’s race.
“It’s distinctly possible that a Canadian record could occur here in Vancouver. This track is ready to go. All we need is a warm night and a light following wind, and we have the conditions.”